The Dosadi Suite - Coda III: The Long Night
by OrionXIII
Summary: The Dosadi are coming to get a defector from the Gorn battlestation at Airdrie and have to fight their way through a minefield, two Gorn fleets, and a battlestation. Re-written slightly with some additional material so it is now an addendum to Tales From The Dosadi Imperium (Fugue, Triad, Fulcrum). The story is told by Colonel Jons about 10 years after the end of Fulcrum. ( Guide)
1. Story Notes

The Dosadi Suite

Story Notes

This is actually a full book, broken into 5 cycles and 3 codas. The story is being told by a reporter – if you want to read things in order here's your table of contents:

Cycle 1 - Fugue

Prologue – Sets the stage.

The story of how a young human Star Fleet engineer meets and falls in love with a Dosadi Imperial Marine. Crosses the events of Coda 2, and 3. Minor appearance by Nurse Chapel.

Cycle 2 – Triad

Continues the story of Wilkes and Sooth, their struggles to have a child while dealing with the espionage intrigues of a Hydran Colonel. Minor appearances by CPT Kirk and CDR Spock.

Cycle 3 – Pivot

Continues the story of Wilkes and Sooth as they become involved in stopping a bio-weapon from being released on Earth under a flag of truce.

Coda 1 – Raid on Romulus

Details the events of the Dosadi raid that destroyed the Romulon capitol city.

Coda 2 – Free For All At Toulagai

Details the events of the first battle where Wilkes, Sooth and COL Jons first met – though on opposite sides.

Coda 3 – The Long Night

Details the events of the Dosadi assault on a Gorn battlestation to recover a defector.

Cycle 4 – Minuet

Tells the story Wilkes' and Sooth's daughter Heather's time at Starfleet Academy while she learns to be a Federation fighter pilot and a details a series of Cardassian atrocities.

Cycle 5 – Finale

Tells the story of Wilkes' and Sooth's son Corin, a Dosadi Special Forces Soldier and his rescue of a young Dosadi child after the Cardassians capture a critical Dosadi planet – and the Dosadi's attempt to retake the planet.

Epilogue – Wraps it all up for you.

End Notes & Acknowledgments – copyright and title information for song lyrics and thanks to the folks who've provided help and suggestions!

I would VERY much like any comments, suggestions, or reviews you would care to offer – positive or negative, even if it's just 'This didn't hook my interest'. Thank you for taking the time to read it!


	2. Chapter 1

_**CODA III**_

_**The Long Night**_

_**CHAPTER 1**_

"_There's an old saying, Fortune favors the bold. Well, I guess we're about to find out." _

– _CPT Benjamin Sisko, _**_Deep Space Nine (Human)_**

"The diplomatic party on board the Gorn battlestation _Airdrie_ was in full swing. Admiral T'Skay was even beginning to relax and enjoy his triumph. His engineering of the Dosadi Marshal Furball's defection was the only thing that had kept his rank and position intact after the disaster at Toulagai. The Marshal had been a top commander of Dosadi ground troops but had been dishonored in a recent battle against the Avatan (a centaur-like race with four arms and a single-eye that wrapped completely around their head; An eye-flap could be opened in a sort of wave on opposite sides of their heads, moving their field of view around their heads. Very strange critters) and rather than accept his loss of face and status, he elected to betray the Dosadi Imperium to the Gorn. With suitable baiting by T'Skay, of course.

Thinking of Toulagai brought a frown to T'Skay's bug-eyed tyrannosaur-like face. While he had managed to bring his mangled fleet home, the ghosts of more than 500 dead crewmen still haunted his dreams. And the Hydrans hadn't been entirely pleased with the mauling they had received either. All because of that stupid Klingon Drake. Well, and perhaps his own dead-cat jokes. No, those were funny. It was mostly the Klingon's fault, T'Skay decided. One day he'd have his revenge.

A burst of applause snapped him back to the present. Evidently Marshal Furball (a translation of the name he now bore after his disgrace at the battle of Corlon) had finally decided to sit down and shut up. He could understand why the cat-people didn't care much for ol' Furball. They usually preferred direct action to talking endlessly, but this one loved the sound of his own snarling voice. He gulped down the rest of his mead and held his cup out to be refilled. A motion outside of the ballroom's huge crystal windows drew his attention. He looked up to see several warships sail majestically past – the battleship _Blackfoot_ and her escorts, the corvette _Loveland_, heavy frigate _Ewa_, and the battlecruiser _Ottowa_. Nosing along behind the big ships was the little minesweeper stationed at _Airdrie_, the _Harvey_. He chuckled, a rumbling and ominous sound; Just let the Dosadi try something THIS time. Even supposing that they managed to slip a few ships through the Romulon Empire – no lovers of the big bipedal cats that looked so much like Terran cougars – AND elude his border patrols, then they'd still have to deal with the battlestation's massive phaser-IV cannons, a large minefield, the battleship task force, and a carrier task force centered around the brand new _Troy_.

That thought brought a full-blown smile to his toothy face. The _Troy_ was escorted by two more battlecruisers – The _Towson_ and the _Zion_, two heavy destroyers – _Azusa_ and _Ceres_, the corvette _Macon _and the heavy frigate _Centralia_. He was beginning to hope that they really would try to recover Furball.

Still, he reflected, he'd be happier if Furball were safely at a starbase deeper in Gorn territory. The Romulon's were still at war with the Grand Alliance and definitely operated under the 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' principle. They might just let a small raider force slip through. Or, as they were sill struggling to recover from the Dosadi pounding of Romulus, maybe they could sneak a few ships past or buy off a local commander. And the idiot paper-pushers had over two months to process his application for asylum. Lots of nonsense about 'delicate alliances with the Federation' and not wanting to 'antagonize' the kittycats. Cowards. If they had any strength at all, they'd be in the Fleet.

He had just taken a large bite out of the even larger steak in front of him (being quite sure to show as many teeth as possible to the Dosadi Ambassador scowling at him) when an aide tapped his large, green, scaly shoulder.

"Sir, Sensory reports that they are receiving heavy jamming on all channels from the direction of the Romulon border."

T'Skay was about to tell the aide to go tell Sensory to wipe off its screens when a nagging doubt hit him. He wiped off his ample mouth with it's rows of sharp teeth and motioned to the man to take him to the station's sensory center.

When he arrived, he was not pleased. All scopes showed heavy jamming on the bands traditionally used by Dosadi attack forces. In fact...He stepped forward and shoved a young officer out of his chair. He readjusted the sensors and began feeding the data into the computer. "There!" he thought. "I remember that pattern when the Dosadi launched that drone wave at... TOULAGI. Nolin! He was HERE! It had to be Admiral Nolin." He dredged his memory. "That meant the carrier _Delos_. Nolin never left that hulk. Probably married the damn thing. Let's see, she was escorted by two of those damnable anti-seeker corvettes with the equally damnable Federation Aegis defense system...What were they? Oh yes, the _Nareth_ and the _Lavet Cair._ The _Nareth_ had chewed the destroyer _Tooth_ nearly to pieces. Perhaps they never repaired the _Lavet Cair_ after the Hydran's cruiser _Succession_ almost blew her out of space while she was attacking their big carrier, the _Kingdom_. No, the big cats had an almost religious devotion to ships. If there were something left of it, they'd rebuild it." he continued to access the library computer as he ran through his thoughts.

The aide had just about decided that T'Skay had blown a mental gasket. He and the other officers in the Sensory watched as several screens began displaying Dosadi warships, schematics, battle histories, capabilities and specifications. He was still staring at the diagram of the assault carrier _ISS Delos_ when T'Skay grabbed the front of his tunic, easily lifted the quarter-ton officer off the ground and said, "Listen closely. The station is under attack by the Dosadi. At least this carrier force. The civilians are NOT to be alerted. Put all military personnel on Grade 1 Alert. Notify the fleet to prepare for action and make sure that there are at least FIVE fully armed Marines near Furball at ALL times. Got that?"

"Ye..Yes Sir!" he stammered. T'Skay dropped him and went back to his dinner. The station commander should get him if things got too critical. Meanwhile, he had to keep up appearances. The officers in the compartment he just left shook their heads and went back to trying to clear their screens. Three minutes later, they managed to burn through the electronic noise. Sitting there were three Dosadi attack fleets. At this range and still suffering from the effects of the jamming, it was difficult to determine their types, but they were certainly large. Aboard the Gorn battleship _Blackfoot_ Commodore Sethet ordered his ships out to reinforce the minefield. The Dosadi had come in much faster than was standard procedure for anyone facing a minefield – clearly risking damage to their ships for the element of surprise. Within minutes of dropping out of warp, they were already beginning to sweep paths through the minefield – far enough out that the station's phaser cannons weren't even an annoyance.

Frowning at the speed that the Dosadi were pressing the attack, he ordered "Lieutenant! Get me a complete breakdown on the attacking forces."

A few moments later, his battle manager responded, "They seem to be organized in two task forces sir. The first force, to our left, is in two groups centered around the assault carrier _Delos_ and the battleship _Dorsai_. In station around them are the corvettes _Nareth_ and _Lavet Cair_ and the heavy cruiser _Dinen_. Leading this force is the minesweeper _Tarot_. The second force, on our right, is a larger force being led by the minesweeper _Telesh_. This force is centered around the assault carrier _Eleth_ and the heavy cruiser _Thelet_ with the corvettes _Toulagai_ and _Turanti_ escorting. These are some of their newest ships, sir, I'm shocked to see them already participating in an attack. Acting as auxiliary minesweepers for this group are the command destroyer _Shagrat_ and the scout destroyer _Sheol_ with the heavy drone frigate _Borlin_ providing close fire support."

The Commodore stared at him, why the man had just listed off half a million tons of warships! "Is that ALL?" he hissed, his voice dripping sarcasm.

"Yes, Sir!" the man replied brightly, still focused on his displays. Evidently the sarcasm was lost on him. The Commodore briefly debated with himself on the merits of firing the man out of a photon torpedo tube, but as he was a good battle manager, he decided against it.

"Comm, make sure that T'Skay knows the size of the fleet the kittycats brought with them." Then he began to deploy his own fleet. Hopefully, the minefield would do something; at least slow them down enough for his fleet to pound them while they couldn't maneuver.

Deep inside the _Delos_, Admiral Nolin was pleased. This attack was going very well. The Romulon's had been more than willing to ignore his fleet's run through their territory – a sizeable bribe and the prospect of a lot of damage to the Gorns seemed to help with that. All four forces had dropped out of warp exactly on station a half million kilometers from the _Airdrie_ battlestation and closed with the minefield behind their minesweepers. Surprisingly, the station was slow to react to his jamming. All of the threat screens showed clear. While the numbers and sizes of ships surrounding the battlestation were depressing, there were no more than his intelligence had led him to expect. Ambassadors made good spies, after all. He decided he might as well have some fun. Turning to his electronic warfare officer, he said "Lieutenant, do you remember the jamming pattern we used at Toulagai?"

"Yes sir. It was a logarithmically modulated Lisajou pattern with a rolling random prime shift. Why?"

"I want you to use it now." Nolin smiled. He knew T'Skay would see it. "You see, the Gorn Admiral we fought at Toulagai is in command here. I want him to know it's ME."

The man chuckled. "Yes SIR!" he bent to his panel, purring as he began to adjust dials and buttons. Nolin turned to the Air Commander, "Seleth, launch our fighters when we're 100,000 km from the minefield. Have the _Eleth_ hold half of hers. We'll sweep through at .18C and return fire only if fired upon. All we want is Furball. Let's not upset the Terrans any more than we have to. They seem to like these lizards."

"Got it, sir." he turned and began issuing orders to the seven squadrons of fighters he was responsible for. The entire fleet had finished forming up into spearheads and had begun clearing paths through the big minefield. As the fighters launched into space, _Delos'_ wing commander, Commander Delac was quite content. The six _Tomcats_ of White Wing and three of the six from _Eleth's _Gold Wing were on station and Green Wing's _Hornets_ and Red Wing's _Thunderbolts_ were getting where they needed to be. With the 15 fighters still aboard _Eleth_, this was the most fighters he'd seen on one place. He knew the Gorns had a carrier here and anticipated racking up a few more kills for his Wings. "How did they manage to fit something that ugly and that big into a fighter?" He wondered.


	3. Chapter 2

_**CHAPTER 2**_

_Brute strength is not the most important asset in a fight. _

_- Klingon Proverb_

Using his enhanced visuals, he could see the tiny motes that were the minesweepers and their remote-control shuttlecraft. Using electronic enhancers and sensors they were able to mark the positions of mines they detected and by appearing to be a major warship, detonated any that they didn't. Of course, that destroyed the shuttlecraft, but it was no great loss. They were making good progress – his scopes were showing more and more red dots as the four ships found more and more mines and cleared lanes through the field. They were also showing a number of promising targets on the far side as the Gorn fleet maneuvered for position. None of the ships directly in front of his group's ships were showing any inclination to move out from under the station's heavy phaser cannon. The ships opposing the _Eleth's_ fighters, on the other hand, seemed to want to play.

"All units, White Wing, Gold Wing, and Green Wing, target initial missile strike on the heavy frigate _Ewa_. Spread as follows: 25% of both your Countach and Lynx missiles. Gold Wing, target all your Lynx missiles at the battlecruiser _Ottowa_." he watched his screens as they showed them targeting the big ships.

An obviously young voice mewled over the circuit, "Why LYNX missiles? Those are anti-fighter drones!"

Delac sighed. Green pilots. Ah well, they had to learn sometime. "Confusion effect. Their sensors can't tell the difference. Cut the crap and target as ordered." He watched to be sure that he did and noted that the _Dinen_ had just launched the additional three F-18 _Hornets_ of Black Wing that she had carried from their garrison duties.

Back in _Airdrie_'s dining hall, T'Skay was getting irritated. This stupid dinner had barely started – and he had to be here – but he wanted to be in the station's combat control center to direct the destruction of the Dosadi. They had certainly managed to slip a LOT of ships through the Romulon Empire! But, he couldn't afford to panic the 600+ civilians aboard the station, nor show weakness in front of the dignitaries here. He looked up in time to see a small, bright flash. Evidently one of the mines had exploded. "Good!" He thought. Hopefully it caught Nolin sitting right on top it if.

Just then, six Marines marched into the room and took station near Marshal Furball. The Dosadi traitor looked at them, and then at T'Skay. T'Skay had to fight the urge to bury his head in his hands; That idiot aide hadn't even ordered them into dress uniforms. He dredged up a smile. After a few seconds, he looked back out the window in time to see a large, white flash slowly turn into a ragged red blotch against the dark of space. "That was no mine!" he thought. He quickly made his way back to the sensory station. On his way there, he noticed that he was passing a _lot_ of Marines – all in full combat gear. This did not bode well.

"What just happened?" he demanded as he walked into the darkened room. The aide turned to face his Admiral. "Sir, I regret to inform you of the loss of the minesweeper _Harvey_ and her crew of 200."

T'Skay sat down heavily. "How?"

The Aide continued, "Commodore Sethet has taken full responsibility. He ordered the _Harvey_ to make a mine-laying run to place a secondary minefield 60,000 km behind the primary in a diamond pattern in order to block one of the routes the Dosadi are clearing. Upon her closest approach to the Dosadi spearheads, she fired a volley at the heavy cruiser _Dinen_. The return fire from _Dinen_, _Dorsai_, and _Delos_ overwhelmed her shielding and completely vaporized the ship before Captain S'Krelt could abandon her."

"Why lay another minefield? Isn't the primary holding up? I saw at least one mine go."

"No, sir. The Dosadi advance has slowed greatly, but the mines are only destroying the occasional shuttlecraft. Their mine-sweeping crews are extremely adept. In the past ten minutes they have penetrated 35,000 km and harassing fire from our fleet is accomplishing nothing."

"Make their minesweepers primary targets for further volleys" He shook his head and headed back to that damnable party. "Well," he thought, "that's another 200 on your head, Nolin."

On board the heavy cruiser _Dinen_, Captain Toralin relaxed a little. Everything was still going according to plan. Destroying the Gorn minesweeper was an unexpected bonus. His communications officer interrupted his thoughts,

"Sir, incoming message from Admiral Nolin."

"On the screen. At once."

"Captain, what happened? You were ordered to fire to disable, not destroy. Your torpedo fire destroyed their warp reactors, and the ship."

"You're displeased, sir?" Toralin certainly was. He was expecting high praise!

"Captain, the Gorn's are nominally our allies and are certainly Federation allies. We can't risk losing their support, and their technology. We're only here to get Furball back. I want to cause as little loss of life as possible."

Toralin frowned, his ears drooping. "Sorry, sir. Lucky shot." he had ordered the warp reactors targeted specifically and was impressed that his weapons officers were able to hit the target at this range. However, it wouldn't do to let Nolin know that now.

"See that you don't get that lucky again..._captain_." the threat was implicit. The viewscreen went dark and Toralin sagged in his seat, dejected.

Nolin turned back to the solid holograph showing the battle's development. The colored dots, lines, vectors and symbols crawled across the space. "As soon as the _Eleth_ force gets through the field, have the _Thelet, Borlin, Sheol, _and _Shagrat_ break off and make a high-speed run. Have them follow a spiral course, alternating above and below the battle plane and end at the station. Engage targets of opportunity. Their job is to try to attract as much attention as possible." The battle manager turned and began to issue orders to the fleet.

Aboard his _Tomcat_ fighter, Commander Delac decided that the range was right for his first real missile strike. "All units, Green Wing, White Wing, Red Wing, launch all drones and recover. Black Wing, fly CID _(Close-In Defense)_." He watched as the missiles activated their engines and leapt off towards the tiny lights that were the enemy ships. The _Dorsai_ helped by firing a hellishly large Type-R plasma torpedo and two of the mid-sized Type-S plasma torpedoes as well. "That should slow those lizards up!" He thought.

Back aboard the Gorn battleship _Blackfoot_, Fleet Captain K'Elek wasn't exactly worried. He had his fleet going nice and slow just to counter such a strike. "All ships, launch wild weasels and hold positions."

Throughout the Gorn ships, the tiny shuttlecraft began to fly away from the five bigger ships. Their defense officers watched the Dosadi weapons track in on two of them and destroy them utterly. The other three shuttles were recovered via tractor beams.

The captain wasn't worried when the _Dorsai_ and the _Delos_ launched several more of the tiny missiles. When three of them suddenly split into four each, he began to worry a little bit. They had to recharge the Weasels before they could be used again. Still, the corvette _Loveland_ seemed to be handling them. His warfare officer turned to him and said, "Sir, the _ISS Delos_ is launching nine more fighters. Our analysis of the last volley shows that it was over 70% dogfight drones and pseudo-plasma torpedoes. We estimate a better than 80% probability that this next wave will be a full strike. Evidently they were attempting to draw out our drone defense."

As the captain was thinking sourly that they had succeeded in doing just that, the defense officer broke in, "Sir! The _Loveland_ is under attack! Incoming disruptors, photon torpedoes and hellbores!"

"Dammit! Respond! Fire every weapon the fleet has at the _Dinen_!" He watched as the powerful weapons streaked away from his ship and into the enemy formation, angling for the heavy cruiser that had just pounded the _Loveland._ "Analysis?"

The warfare officer's expression made the answer clear before he spoke. "Poor, sir. 75% missed. Slight damage to the _Dinen's_ forward shield and she probably drained about 70% of her available reserve energy. _Loveland_, on the other hand, has been badly damaged. The Dosadi volleys destroyed all four of her anti-drone launchers."

The captain grumbled, "Do those damn cats sleep with their weapons?"

Delac watched as the fighters from the secondary strike the _Delos_ deployed moved into position and activated their targeting systems. "All wings. When the fleet turns right, accelerate to 80% speed and pick targets of opportunity. At a range of 20,000 km, fire drones and continue closing. At closest possible approach, fire phasers. All units concentrate on the forward shields – and _try_ and hit the same shields this time, right? Don't push your luck either. Get in, take your shot, get out and come back. It's too early in the fight to go meet the gods." Watching the corvette the fleet had fired on turn away and limp back towards the battlestation, he mentally marked it off hits threat list. With the enhanced visuals displayed by his combat sensors, he could see the fires and the loose warp energy coruscating across her hull as well as the mangled launchers of her primary weapons systems.

The fighter groups deployed nicely, their tight formations blooming into the wings that the Dosadi favored. Two minutes later, they released their drones, following the missiles in. Delac monitored the chatter between the leaders and their pilots. "Blast visors down." White Wing's leader ordered. Delac echoed it and focused his attention on the battlecruiser _Ottowa_ that White Wing and Red Wing were homing in on. Space became full of dodging fighters, the arc-light glare of missile engines, green phasers lancing up from the enemy ships, volleys of chaff and the occasional explosion as a drone was destroyed by the defenders. White Wing's _Hornets_ dove close on the big cruiser, their Gatling phasers spitting death and destruction. Close behind them Red Wing's _Thunderbolts_ each fired their single photon torpedo from point-blank range. As Delac and Green Wing's _Tomcats_ added to the mayhem and began to race away, the Dosadi fleet opened up with every weapon that would bear. The Gorns seemed to feel obligated to respond and returned the phaser fire.

Something wasn't right. Delac tried to sort through the confused reports clogging the command channels. He sorted out that the _Ottowa_ had sustained heavy damage, especially to her weapons and power, and that the heavy frigate _Ewa_ had been very badly damaged. But - the _Dorsai_ had been badly hurt. As his _Tomcat_ accelerated back to the _Delos_, he moved his scanners from the burning _Ewa_ to the battleship. There were open fires across all three of the massive warp engines and gaping holes in the impulse engines as well. This was very bad. The _Dorsai_ was scheduled to provide most of the heavy fire support for the entire battle. Nobody had ever damaged a battleship before...

Despite the successful hits on the _Dorsai_, Commodore Sethet wasn't quite pleased. The damned _Delos_ had reloaded her fighters again and the entire Dosadi fleet had made it through the minefield without further damage. The _Blackfoot's_ force had its anti-drone capability halved and both the battlecruiser _Ottowa_ and the heavy frigate _Ewa_ were shot to shit. And there would undoubtably be more drones. The cat-people used them like shields, forcing his ships to shoot down the endless waves of missiles, leaving them vulnerable to the fighters' own weapons.

Back in the ballroom, the crowd had become aware that there was _something_ going on outside. Everyone was oohing and aahing at the bright flashes and streaks of light as the battle raged. T'Skay winced at every flash. After one particularly bright flash (caused by the warp conduits aboard the _Ottowa_ fusing), he looked down to see the Dosadi ambassador giving him a silent toast from across the room. He wondered if the Federation would really care if he ate that damn pussycat. Marshal Furball, his back to the windows, still wasn't aware of the battle. The egotistical idiot thought everyone was oohing and aahing at HIM. Disgusted, T'Skay got up and returned to the sensory station.

"Sir." the ranking commander reported, "The battleship um," he glanced over his shoulder, "_Dorsai_ has been badly damaged! She's stopped dead in space!"


	4. Chapter 3

_**CHAPTER 3**_

"_There is no honor in attacking the weak."_

_- LT Worf – USS Enterprise (Klingon)_

For the first time in a while, T'Skay smiled. "Excellent! What damage have we sustained?"

"Not so good, sir. The corvette _Loveland_ has been badly damaged and lost all anti-drone capability beyond our ability to repair. The battlecruiser _Ottowa_ reports heavy damage to weapons and power systems and many casualties. She is retiring to the station to repair along with the _Loveland_. The heavy frigate _Ewa_ has also suffered heavy damage. She is attempting to regain navigation control and retire to the station to repair what she can. Fleet Captain K'Elek has ordered the battleship _Blackfoot_ to fall back to the secondary defense line and Fleet Captain S'Aleen has ordered the _Troy_ and her escorts forward to engage. He reports all fighter wings aloft and ready to fire. Also, he has the corvette _Macon_ laying a secondary minefield some 50,000 km behind his current position.

A secondary destroyer force has broken off from the main Dosadi fleet and appears to be curving away from the _Troy_. This force is centered around the heavy cruiser _Thelet_ and includes the _Shagrat_ and the _Sheol_. The _Borlin_ is flying in what appears to be a fire-support position. Both the Dosadi heavy cruisers appear to be supporting an additional three F-18 _Hornets_ each."

T'Skay digested this information and studied the tactical plot. "Very good. Use three of your data transfer channels and beam the text of Dead Cat Jokes volumes one, two and three to the _Delos_. Let me know what response they make."

"Um, yes, sir." The commander watched T'Skay's back as he began to stalk out of the sensory. He didn't get far before a young Lieutenant from the Planning Committee blocked his path, "Sir! The Dosadi have two SWACS shuttles just sitting out there! Completely unescorted!"

T'Skay was surprised. The Dosadi were religious about making sure the highly valuable craft were well behind the battle lines. It wasn't like Nolin to make that kind of mistake, "Where?"

"Sir! If you just give me one or two corvettes, I can sneak past the Dosadi fleets and destroy both of them!"

T'Skay shoved the man out of the way and searched the solid space of the tactical holograph until he found the small blue dots representing the shuttlecraft. They were almost half a million miles away and the only paths through the minefield were blocked by a battleship and an assault carrier. He turned back and said, "Are you making some sort of joke?"

"No sir! If you'd only..."

The Admiral turned to a Marine at the doorway. "Corporal. Have this man taken and fired out of a plasma torpedo tube. At once." He left the sensory making disgusted noises. The Marine took hold of the foolish Lieutenant and dragged him off, and there was much rejoicing.

Captain Lanet, guiding the Dosadi Raider Force from the bridge of the _ISS Thelet_ watched his tactical display closely. Although the course of his diversionary force was technically curving away from the _Troy_, in reality, the distance was closing as the _Troy's_ own motion was making up the difference and more. Watching the shadowy colored globes that indicated his weapons' effective ranges, he waited until the green dot of the _Troy_ just brushed one. He spun in his chair, "Weapons! Target that corvette with the phasers and fire all torpedoes at the _Troy_. Launch a Pseudo-S and F followed by a real Type-F. Have the _Borlin_ and White Wing fire their Lynx drones ten seconds later. As soon as they launch their Wild Weasels, destroy them with phaser fire, then fire a second wave of drones. If no more Weasels are launched, then fire the remaining plasma torpedoes. Have the _Shagrat_ and _Sheol_ fire theirs in sequence."

Aboard the _Troy_, the warfare officer was just realizing that the carrier group had been closing the distance to the destroyers when they began to fire. Following the Gorn's standard battle doctrine, they dropped their Wild Weasel and dealt with the second wave of drones with pulsed phasers and Gatling phasers. He was quite pleased. The Dosadi weren't at all as dangerous as they were reputed to be. The new computer systems were performing flawlessly. Each target was assigned a threat rating and a complete data readout was coded next to it, along with vectors indicating actual course and speed as well as projected path. It appeared that the new Aegis fire control system that they had purchased from the Federation made drone defense child's play.

His sweating missile defense officers might not have agreed with him on that. Especially when drones began to leak through the system on the third wave. There were more weapons in-bound than there were defensive systems available to deal with them. Fleet Captain S'Aleen watched the pulsing red lights indicating the incoming plasma torpedoes. They kept coming closer. His defense officers tried to juggle phasers from drones to plasmas with little success. The _Troy_ began to shudder and shake as the missiles started to strike home. Shield status bars dropped and changed color rapidly from green to yellow to red despite the best effort of his engineering officers to pour more reinforcing energy into them – energy that simply wasn't available. As the shields collapsed, the four Dosadi ships began to pump photon torpedoes and disruptors into his ship. There was a loud clanging sound as two hellbores slammed into the _Troy_ and that was the last thing S'Aleen knew for a few moments. Shaking himself back into consciousness he picked himself up off the floor and tried to clear the air from the firefighting gas that had automatically flooded the bridge. The warfare officer was dead, so he shoved him aside and began trying to restore power and communications. "Engineering! Where the hell's my power?!"

The intercom crackled, shorted, and then finally connected. "Warp controls are fused! That last hellbore hit us right in Engineering! I can't find the Chief Engineer and everything's on fire!" The captain cut off the panicked engineering crewman and signaled damage control to make the warp controls their first priority. This was not good.

Seconds later, the _Troy_ began to die. The _Sheol_ and the _Borlin_ peeled off from the _Thelet_ and began to close with him. The huge carrier struggled into reverse. Her escorts, realizing too late that they had failed to stay as close to the carrier as they should have, tried to race to the rescue. They could only watch in frustrated rage as more plasma torpedoes and drones arced towards the crippled ship. Bright green lines lanced out from the destroyers and traced across the giant, ripping it to pieces.

S'Aleen pounded on the engineering panel in the burning wreckage of his bridge, trying to get some power, ANY power out of his dying warp engines. More torpedoes began to crunch dully on the outer hull, blowing entire sections out and leaving blackened holes throughout the once mighty _Troy_. One shot hit her so hard, the keel actually bent, leaving a significant portion of the nose of the ship at a slight angle.

Behind the dying _Troy_, the little corvette _Macon_ wasn't doing too much better. She was laying mines, as ordered, but she was being chased by the heavy cruiser _Thelet_ and the command destroyer _Shagrat_. Her crew did a heroic job, but she was vastly out-gunned. Her shields collapsed almost immediately and various portions of the ship began to melt from the heavy incoming fire. They never hit her hard enough to destroy her and she never quit laying mines until the bay doors were damaged so badly that it became impossible.

One their third strike of the evening, Delac routed the _Delos'_ fighter groups around the mines the _Harvey_ had tried to lay and began having them sweep in on the now unescorted _Blackfoot_. "Red Wing, hold position at third in. White Wing, target your Lynx missiles on those incoming fighters off the _Troy_. Green Wing, use two volleys of Lynxes, target those _Thunderbolts_ from the battlestation and the _Stings_ from the _Troy._" Briefly he wondered if the Federation sold the same fighters to everyone. And he STILL didn't understand how the lizards shoved something that big and ugly into a fighter. The _Sting_ was the Gorn's own design, one the Hydrans used as well, but the _Thunderbolts_ had been designed for much smaller creatures.

The tiny fighters began to dive on the huge battleship, dodging her defensive fire and releasing their missiles from almost on top of her. Unfortunately, the officers aboard the _Blackfoot_ were some of the best in the Gorn Confederacy. Not a single drone fired struck it's target. Despite this amazingly skilled defense, the fighters had other weapons as well. As each fighter released it's missiles, it dived onto the huge ship and strafed it from no more than twenty feet above the hull – and occasionally less. More than one startled Gorn gunnery officer saw a thirty-foot Dosadi fighter flash past his gun port, far too close and far too fast to hit.

"All wings, return and recover. Don't stop dodging until you're out of range. They might still have some weapons or be able to recharge them. Get out while you can." He scanned the Gorn ship for damage. It wasn't a knockout blow, but it was definitely a morale boost. After all, by now the crews had been on constant battle alert for over an hour. Delac and his pilots had finished three strikes without loss and done a tremendous amount of damage.

Like the _Troy_, the Gorn's inexperienced fighter pilots had bad luck. The battlestation's _Thunderbolts_ got mauled by the _Tomcat's_ anti-fighter missiles, their Gatling phaser assault packages useless at the long range. The _Troy's_ _Tomcats_, hit by a plasma shotgun fired by the _Dinen_ at least managed to fire all of their missiles at the _Delos_. The six hapless _Stings_ only managed to score two hellbore hits on the cruiser _Dinen_ and moments after they fired, they were engaged by her three _Hornets_ and destroyed in a brief, 20 second dogfight. Only one of the _Stings _managed to escape. As he landed his smoking fighter on board the equally smoking ship, the captain gave the order to abandon all but a damage control crew to the station. Seconds later, the _Troy_ managed an emergency warp jump out of the system, leaving a tail of six shuttlecraft packed full of wounded and frightened crewmen.

Her remaining escorts, formed a line defense and began to back steadily under the station's heavy phaser cannon. The heavy frigate _Ewa_, plagued by hellbore fire from the _Dinen_ followed the _Troy_ a moment later.

T'Skay's dinner was going from bad to worse. His aide had waited until he had just swallowed a large gulp of meade to inform him that the _Troy_ and the _Ewa_ had been forced to flee. The resulting spray of liquid drenched half of the table. His only comfort was in watching the foolish lieutenant he had ordered executed float slowly past the dining room windows. Of course he was dead. Shoving the aide out of the way, he stomped down to the sensory to take personal charge of the battle. When he arrived, things weren't looking any better.

"Status?" he snapped.

"Not good sir," the commander replied. "Our fighter group was mauled. They were simply out matched. We're down to the six A-10 _Thunderbolts_ stationed here. There are eight in-bound shuttlecraft containing wounded crewmen from the _Troy_ and _Ewa_ and they're flying right across the paths of the Dosadi spearheads. _Ottowa_ is on station and beginning repairs. I've rerouted the _Loveland_ to make a diversionary strike on the _Delos_ group while the _Blackfoot_ provides support. We've inflicted no further damage to the Dosadi, but the _Dorsai_ still hasn't moved. We may have hit her power and engineering sections harder than we thought."

"Not likely." T'Skay grumbled, "They're laying to and repairing. They've enough firepower advantage right now that she's not needed. Any damage to the Dosadi fighter wings?"

"The _Stings_ from the _Troy_ managed to destroy three F-18 _Hornets_ that had been launched by the _Dinen_."

"So we traded eighteen fighters for three?"

"Um, seventeen, sir."

One of the men monitoring the battle spoke up, "Both Dosadi carriers have just launched their full compliment of eighteen fighters each. They'll be able to fire in five minutes."

"If you can get the _Loveland_ in position fast enough, have her try and damage the carrier before the fighters can fire. Maybe we'll keep 'em tied to home."

The captain of the _Nareth_ watched as the fighters all deployed again. This was their fourth strike of the battle and they had to be exhausted. He noted the red course indication of the obnoxious little corvette that had been hit earlier. If the fleet got sandwiched between that thing's Gatling phasers and the battleship's heavy weapons, things would not go well. "Comm, request permission for weapons release on that corvette."

A few seconds later he got his answer, "Granted sir, _Delos_ has targeted two photon torpedoes on her forward shield as well."

"Excellent. On my mark..."

Back on _Airdrie_, T'Skay watched as the red and green blips and course lines representing the two fleets closed. The amber lights of the Dosadi fighter wings were closing too quickly with the _Blackfoot_. They were ignoring the _Loveland_ to go for the battleship. Typical.


	5. Chapter 4

_**CHAPTER 4**_

_"Spock, I've found that evil usually triumphs... unless good is very, very careful." _

_- Dr Leonard McCoy, (Human) on Omega IV_

"Weapons exchange." somebody remarked. The _Loveland's_ light winked out.

The _Nareth_ rocked as her shields struggled to absorb the phaser fire the Gorn corvette pumped into them. The _Blackfoot_ began to fire every heavy weapon aboard into the _Dinen_ which was already shuddering under the slaps of the _Ottowa's_ plasmatic pulsar device.

The fighter groups were diving on the _Blackfoot_ again, and again her defense officers were equal to the task. But as with the last attack, they simply had nothing left to spare to fend off the fighters themselves. The mighty ship shuddered and groaned as the phasers and torpedoes sliced into her hull from point-blank range.

As the captain of the _Loveland_ began to receive reports of incoming torpedoes to match the pounding his ship was receiving from the Dosadi corvette in front of him, he reached a conclusion. "Abandon ship!" he cried. Thirty seconds later, his ship exploded. His quick action enabled seventy of his crewmen to reach escape pods or transporters in time.

The shuttlecraft containing the crew of the _Troy_ and the _Ewa_ were in a unique position. As they struggled to fly to the battlestation, they were caught between the fires raging between the two fleets. The passengers, already crammed into the tiny craft were thrown against the walls and floor as the pilots dodged phasers, torpedoes, and hellbores. Several times they were nearly run down by Dosadi fighters.

Back in the station's dining hall, the party paused as the thick green beams of the station's phaser cannon lanced out. Marshal Furball finally realized what was up as the lights dimmed from the heavy power consumption and the entire room turned bright green for a moment.

On the receiving end of that firepower, the _Eleth_ rocked hard. Every ship in the _Troy's_ escort group had begun firing their torpedoes at her, and the Phaser IV impacts hadn't helped. The Gorn weapons officers had acquitted themselves well – over 80% of the weapons fired had struck home. Four of her six shields were gone and she had taken minor damage to several systems.

Her fighters, on the other hand, were having a hay-day. Not one of the five ships in front of them was able to use their phasers again so quickly. They had exhausted their supply of Wild Weasels early in the battle, trying vainly to absorb the incoming plasma torpedoes and drones. The _Thelet's_ three _Hornets_ were already diving on the heavy destroyer _Ceres_ and two Type-S plasma torpedoes were closing fast.

As with the _Blackfoot, _her drone defenses were almost flawless. Only four of the missiles found their mark – and again, the Gatling phasers and photon torpedoes were harder to dodge. When the fighters whipped around and under the ship and raced back towards their carrier, the _Ceres_ was crippled, and her sister ship the _Azusa_ was damaged, her shields collapsed. The heavy frigate _Centralia_, hit by the _Eleth's_ torpedo fire was crippled beyond use and even the tiny, battered _Macon_ had been reduced to a smoldering ruin.

T'Skay was trying to come up with a winning strategy, but his available firepower was dwindling rapidly. "Sir, another seven inbound shuttlecraft. Transporters have recovered eighty more wounded crewmen. The _Centralia_, _Ceres,_and _Macon_ report that they must disengage."

"Wonderful." How many refugees do we have on board now?"

The man checked a screen, "Two hundred on board, four hundred in-bound."

T'Skay sighed. It was no longer possible to hide the battle from the civilians, nor the fact that the Gorn were getting beaten. If the hundreds of wounded crewmen hadn't tipped them off, the phaser cannon fire surely would. "Declare a state of emergency and signal the Confederacy that we are in dire need. Put all Marines at battle stations. Launch our remaining A-10's."

Throughout the giant station, lights dimmed to red and Marines began to sprint freely through the hallways. A squad of twelve ran into the ballroom and began to take up stations at various points throughout the room. There was a smattering of applause as the station's six remaining A-10's launched past the window.

The next ten minutes were not the best in T'Skay's life. The _Dorsai_ lurched into motion, her damage 60% repaired. The _Delos_ task force closed to within 30,000 km of the station, crippling the _Blackfoot_ as they went past her. The only bright spot was the continuous pounding by the station's phaser cannon had forced the heavy cruiser _Dinen_ to turn away, her shields in tatters and light damage scattered across her hull. T'Skay had no idea how they were managing to absorb the hits. In truth, the _Dinen's_ crew had diverted every bit of energy they could spare to reinforce the shields and by clever maneuvering had managed to spread the hits evenly across all six shields and every portion of the heavy cruiser. Her defense against the phaser-IVs would become a standard case study in academies of just about every space-faring species.

T'Skay finished scanning the battle display and asked the Sensory commander, "What's our current status?" The station's lights dimmed and there were muffled explosions and shouts.

"Very poor, sir. The station is now coming under direct fire by the Dosadi ships. Our number six shield has completely folded and all other's are lightly damaged. They are apparently timing their shots and defensive maneuvers and energies with our rotation – far better than I would've thought possible. We simply do not have enough weapons to attack them all and they're taking turns covering for each other. If they weren't coming here to kill me, it would be beautiful.

The _Blackfoot_ is crippled and unable to power weapons or move. A number of direct hits on her engineering section have completely destroyed her warp controls. The _Azusa _is also crippled. _Ottowa_ was nearly destroyed by those last three _Hornets_ from the _Eleth_, but her Captain says she can still fight; I'm not sure how, or with what. The battlecruiser _Towson_ is only lightly damaged, but she is in a very poor tactical position with seven Dosadi ships in close proximity, on all sides. Battlecruiser _Zion_ is in the best shape, she's undamaged except her forward shield which is at half strength. She is currently maneuvering against the corvette _Turanti_.

Wilkes interrupted the story briefly, "It was the _Zion_ that fired the shot that hit our bay a little later."

Jons nodded and continued, "The aide reported 'The Dosadi have sustained no further significant damage.'

T'Skay wasn't one to waste time moping. "Well, it doesn't look like the Navy's gonna be able to fend them off much longer, eh? Stand by to repel boarders." He was at least going to go down fighting.

Gas-tight doors throughout the station slammed shut and fibercoil window shields slid into place. In the ballroom, Marines began to turn tables over, taking cover behind them. Furball looked up as the shields lowered into place, seeing the mass behind the _Delos_ and her running lights. Only Nolin would be insane enough to leave running lights on during a battle. In the age of sensors, the Dosadi still painted their ships a blue-grey for camouflage. In contrast, Federation vessels were a glossy pearl-white with spot-lights on their registration numbers and names.

Strangely, people were still dancing – although many of them were complaining about the tipped over tables and the loss of the view. One woman, a Federation diplomatic functionary spoke to her dancing partner, a short, dashing, violet-skinned humanoid with white hair wearing the uniform of a Colonel in the Sword Worlds Marine Force, "I say, I don't see why they have to dirty up OUR party! Why, these Dosadi won't bother us! We're civilians! See? Even the Dosadi ambassador is still enjoying his dinner!

The colonel glanced at the ambassador, obviously enjoying his meal with a huge smile on his face and the occasional throaty chuckle. He may have been purring. This particular colonel had been aboard the light cruiser _Succession_ during the battle at Toulagai. "Madame, the Dosadi consider civilians to be a particular delicacy. If this station cannot fight them off, you may find yourself being served at THEIR next party."

"Eeek!" Pampered, sheltered her entire life by the power of the Federation Starfleet, the woman had probably never been in danger in her entire life. The very concept shook her to her core.

Shaking his head, Colonel Jons said, "I keep meaning to look that woman up. She had the strangest notions for how things worked in the galaxy. But, to continue..."


	6. Chapter 5

_**CHAPTER 5**_

"_I shall have him! I'll chase him round the Moons of Nibia, and round the Antares Maelstrom, and round Perdition's flames before I give him up!" _

_- Khan Noonian Singh – aboard USS Reliant (Human)_

Sitting in the bridge of the _Delos_, Nolin turned to his battle manager and said "Bombard the station. Have the destroyers force down the shield facing them, then _Turanti_, _Toulagai, Borlin, _ and _Sheol_ will finish disabling the _Azusa_, _Towson,_ and _Zion_. Make VERY sure that they know to fire to cripple, not destroy. I will personally skin the captain of any ship violating that order."

There was smoke, dust, and endless noise in the Sensory. The commander called to the admiral, 'Sir! _Zion_ reports heavy damage. They were unable to cause significant damage to the _Turanti _due to fighters, drones from the assault carriers, and harassing fire from several vessels." The station rocked again and rang like a bell hit by a giant's hammer, "They've broken through several shields and we're beginning to take serious damage. Power generation is down 50% and we've taken hits on both torpedo launchers. Three phaser-3's and one of the phaser cannon have been destroyed.

"The good news is that the _Eleth_ and the _Delos_ are both damaged and have stopped dead in space in order to reinforce shields. Both carriers are damaged slightly and have four collapsed shields each. The _Dinen_ is still moving away, but the _Dorsai_ is closing fast."

A young crewman spoke up "_Zion_ is under heavy fire. Five incoming plasma torpedoes and four drones." As T'Skay turned to give an order, a breathless and bloody Marine sergeant ran into the room.

"Admiral, over fifty Dosadi Marines have boarded the station. Auxiliary Control was destroyed and we've repulsed raids on all six phaser cannon."

"Take me to General G'Relt." T'Skay followed the sergeant out the door. Seconds after they left, a hellbore torpedo struck the Sensory, knocking the both of them several yards down the hallway and leaving the corridor blocked with debris and beginning to vent atmosphere as alarms sounded.

Once they finally made it to the general's command post, it was evident that things were not going well. The general's side-arm showed signs of recent use. "T'Skay, things are not good." he reported. "We've got 600 civilians and close to a thousand wounded crewmen on board. We've only got about 250 Marines total and the Dosadi already have a toe-hold with the better part of a Platoon. We're trying to coordinate our transporter scramblers, but we've taken a lot of power and command and control hits. So far, the fighting's been concentrated in civilian areas – the Mall and the restaurant sector.

In fact, at that moment, in the Gorn version of a woman's lingerie' shop, several Dosadi Marines were having a bad time of it. They had materialized in the middle of the room and were set upon by a 350 lb behemoth flogging them with something like a purse while several Gorn troopers across the hallway kept them pinned down with occasional pot-shots when they could get a clear shot past the rather upset matron beating the Dosdai.

Other Marines, their beam-down points scattered by the Gorn's defensive electronic warfare had materialized in a men's bathroom, the kitchens and a video arcade. In scattered, extremely violent actions spanning 10 minutes, all 50 of this wave had been killed or captured. But they took a heavy toll of the defenders – casualties were heavy and the Gorn's were now also scattered throughout the station.

It was Sooth's turn to interrupt, "I still think about those people. I knew a lot of them really well."

Jons continued, "Admiral Nolin decided to get the Marines there with a bit more precision. All ships were ordered to launch shuttlecraft containing boarding parties.

A few minutes later, his battle manager shouted "The bloody Gorn are firing on the shuttlecraft!"

"What? What ships?"

"_Azusa_ and the _Towson_ – the bastards! _Zion's_ pulling back. _Blackfoot's_ repaired some of her power, but she's not firing."

"Dammit. I'd hoped crippling them that badly would force them to run. Order _Borlin, Sheol, _and Green Wing to destroy them." Seconds later, both the battlecruiser and the heavy destroyer exploded, but not before taking with them eight shuttlecraft and forty Marines.

In the ball room, the party came to an abrupt halt as a squad of ten Dosadi Marines materialized in the middle of the dance floor and engaged in a firefight with the twelve Gorn Marines stationed there. People began screaming and diving for cover. The heroic Sword Worlds Colonel," Jons winked at Heather and ruffled her fur again, "unarmed but taking on a young, armored Dosadi Marine anyway, took a plasma rifle butt to the face and went down hard. The six guarding Marshal Furball quickly hustled him out the door and down to T'Skay's command post.

"That was when your mother was so badly hurt, kits. And your father's post on the _Delos_ was hit by the _Zion_ at just about the same moment. But, back on the station,

"General G'Relt shouted over the noise of the railguns and plasma rifles "T'Skay! All of our other command posts have been overrun or destroyed. There's at least another company of Dosadi Marines aboard and we're down to a reinforced platoon. That last run by those _Hornets_ shot up two more phaser cannon and five more phaser-3s. We're running out of options here."

As Furball was dragged in, T'Skay smiled to himself. He was going to have one last pleasure. "Hold him." then, while the remaining Marines in the battlestation fought it out, he began to beat the shit out of Marshal Furball. He'd really only gotten in a dozen good hits or so when G'Relt grabbed his arm "T'Skay, the Dosadi are now in control of this station – We need to..." He never finished the sentence; A Dosadi plasma rifle sliced him in two. Half a moment later, T'Skay's world went black as a Gauss gun grazed his skull. When he came to, hours later, the Dosadi fleet was gone, as was Furball.

Seeing a wounded Marine checking for survivors among the debris and the bodies he slurred, "Report."

The Marine looked up and finally recognizing the admiral said "The fucking cats grabbed Furball and ran off. We've got no weapons, no sensors, no power, no nothing. We're screwed."

"Relax. There's no one left to fight. The disaster beacon should've activated when the Sensory was destroyed." Holding his bloody head in his hands, he wondered how he was going to get out of this one.

Admiral Nolin smiled as he walked away from the Brig. Evidently, T'Skay had had some fun with Furball before he was 'liberated.' He was still conscious, but only just. Oh well, he didn't need to look pretty for the court martial and the inevitable execution. Perhaps he'd send his skin to T'Skay as a gesture of respect. He might be a big lizard, but the man never gave up.

Sooth's son Corin asked, "Did he?"

Jons smiled, "You know, he really did. T'Skay still has it as a rather gruesome trophy."

Captain Stone shook her head, "Colonel, you have a talent for taking dry battle reports and turning them into a story. We need to hire you for Starfleet Academy. And I still can't believe I'm sitting here with THE Marine from the ballroom fight. I've watched the sensor logs from that fight; I thought you died. And Colonel, you put up a hell of a scrap yourself."

Turning to Wilkes she said, "Wilksey, I told you the day we graduated that you're the luckiest man on Earth. AND that there was something out there for you." Leaning in, she said in an aside to Sooth, "Excuse me, please." and kissed him. "And I was right."

He laughed, "As usual. Thank you, Colonel, for telling all those stories. It's funny; When you're part of a battle, all you really see is your little piece of it. What I remember most from those fights, other than the dead, is how exhausting it was. Every few minutes the bird was back and we had to fix it and recharge it over and over again."

Jons said, "Indeed. Even the commanders rarely have a real understanding of all parts of the battle. It is not until years later that historians are able to really piece everything together."

The younger kits had fallen asleep, curled up in laps or next to adults, and the urge for conversations and stories had pretty much exhausted itself. People were beginning to find comfortable places to fall asleep. Wilkes held his hand out to the Colonel and said, "Colonel, you are without a doubt the most complex, confusing, and unusual person I have ever met. I think Angie was right. I am the luckiest man on Earth. Or Dosad." He put his arm around Sooth's waist and said, "I don't think I'd trade the life I've lived for anything, or anyone's."

Jons took his hand with a smile and shook it. "And who knows where our lives will lead us next, Wilkes? There's a lot of stories out there yet to be discovered."

Sooth laughed, "We'll turn you into a Dosadi yet, Colonel!"

Marin spoke up, "Well, perhaps not Seins, but we should have a discussion about our son Tir. He and young Ceena seem to truly enjoy each other's company whenever we visit. Would you two be willing to join us in talking with Corin and Eletha? You have experience in melding two different cultures and there would be many advantages to such a pairing."

Wilkes thought to himself that Corin hadn't run fast enough...


End file.
